South Korean Telecoms to Ban Foreign Porn Sites

SEOUL — The South Korean government and the country’s top three telecom service providers have agreed to ban wireless access to foreign porn sites that could start as early as next month.

According to the Korean Communications Commission, KT, SK Telecom and LG Uplus will block porn to smartphones and tablets in an effort to stem what they consider obscene content.

“We are preparing a revised policy that contains the measures to block lewd materials. After further discussions, the final plan will be reported to the KCC in November,” a SK Telecom official said.

The Korea Herald reported that SK Telecom blocked five overseas porn sites on its own last August that were frequently accessed by smartphones.

KT and LG Uplus will also submit their plans to block foreign porn soon.

Despite the country’s control over domestic porn, it has been stymied in its effort to regulate the material from abroad because many foreign sites require no age verification process.

This has led to concern about children accessing adult content via wireless devices.

If the revisions go through, adults as well as teens and children will not be allowed to access porn. Adults will only be able to access content approved by the KCC after an identification process.

But skeptics are wary about the plan’s effectiveness citing a similar access ban that has been imposed on adult content and North Korean websites via broadband Internet connections because of repeated IP address changes by the operators.